What FUNK is in your TRUNK??

By Monica Cornetti
Chief Engagement Officer, Sententia Inc.

You go through your life following the patterns you’ve grown comfortable with. You do things because that’s the way they’re done. Your routine seems so natural that it doesn’t even occur to you that you’re following patterns at all.

You overlook opportunities or fail to see warning signs because you’ve kept your eyes not on the target, but on the routine… it happens to all of us.

Yet, have you found that change is inevitable… and growth is optional?

You may wonder why does this happen all the time why do I have so much resistance to change?

Well it’s because of the FUNK.

Take a minute to grab a sheet of paper and pen. Now draw a box on the paper and draw a picture of you inside the box. Stick figures are fine... we're not grading your artwork.

That’s a representation of your life. It’s everything you know, everything you’ve experienced, all the skills that you have developed, all the feelings that you have ever felt. You are living inside that box. Anytime you want to make a change to do something different you run into what I call FUNK… Fear, Uncertainty, Negativity, and Know-it-Alls.

If you want to make a change, you have to get outside the box – because what got you here won’t get you there.

Yet as you try to get outside that box you run into:

• Fear – The fear sounds like, “What if I fail what people say about me?” or “What if there’s repercussions for trying to do something differently?”
• Uncertainty - You hope and dream that things are going to be better outside your box, but what if I get out there and discover it really isn’t better?
• Negativity – Those thoughts that run through your head that say you don’t really have what it takes. You really aren’t smart, creative, talented, or experienced enough.
• Then there’s the Know-it-Alls – the people who are so willing to tell you things like… that’s not the way we do it around here… leadership will never go for it… I’m don’t think it’s worth the risk.

When you’re in the box and you’re trying to break a routine or habit, you run right into your FUNK.

Here are a couple things to understand about FUNK. Everybody has it! I call it FUNK in your TRUNK. Some people have learned how to unpack their FUNK and they are driving those little, tiny Smart cars. Others are pulling a whole 18-wheel tractor-trailer behind them full of FUNK.

No matter how pulled together someone looks... they've got FUNK.

What FUNK is in your TRUNK??

In my next post I'll give you proven strategies to unpack your FUNK...